the lucky one

“It’s not…” Aaron paused, giving a heavy sigh as he considered how to put what he wanted to say. It was rare he took much time to think about his comments before making them. “A friend has shared a lot of their life with me and when they found out I had powers and that I used to be a hero, they weren’t happy that I’d not trusted them with it I guess. He never forced me but I don’t know… I didn’t really think about it at the time because I don’t talk about it with anyone. I did what I always do; I just brushed it off when he’d made a comment back in the beginning and then it never really came up again until recently. But no, I don’t really want to talk about it with anyone, much as I trust him and now I think I might have just fucked up somehow.”

“Okay well let’s unpack that,” Alaska suggested after listening to him. “You’ve said things along the lines of ‘I guess’, ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I think’ a lot there. So you don’t know for certain if your actions made the other feel this way. And wanna know how you can know for certain? By talking to them. Talk to this friend of yours,” she advised. “It seems like so far you’ve just been filling in the blanks for him out of fear or nerves– but you’re just going to make things harder for yourself like that. The only way you’ll know where you two stand and what’s going on in his mind is if you ask him. Maybe you didn’t fuck up things like you think you did.”

“Hey! I’m doing this on a few drinks– confidence goes up, ability goes down.” Nora laughed as she picked up the ball and had another go, this time serving an ace. “Booyah! One nil, or is it love?” She pushed her glasses up her nose and stood ready to receive. “First to ten wins? And the loser has to buy the other a drink.”

“Who knows?” she couldn’t help her laughter. “Alright, alright that sounds like a fair deal. First to ten,” Alaska nodded, retrieving the ball and already squaring herself up to serve it. “You promise you won’t cheat?”

🐗- our muses come across a wild animal in the forest - @alaskahale​

“That was you, wasn’t it?” Lucinda asked, stopping in place as she looked around the forest. “Come on, now, it’s not funny.” 

Arden shook her head. “Not at all. Maybe they know one of my siblings?”

“Maybe,” Alaska shrugged. “All I know is that I don’t recognize them.”

“Maybe…” Aaron conceded after a moment, though he didn’t look all that happy about it. “But I don’t like talking about my past. I don’t talk about all that with any of my family so why would I do it with someone else.” He would much rather concentrate on his future though he wasn’t entirely sure what that entailed right now. He was at a point where he was perhaps struggling to fit what he wanted around what he’d allow himself to have.

“I don’t like talking about my past either,” she replied, sympathetic of how he was feeling. “But is somebody forcing you to? Because that sort of stuff should surface naturally when you feel comfortable. You shouldn’t feel like you have to,” Alaska added. “Is there someone forcing you to, or do you feel like you want to talk about it with someone?”

“Do you know those people?” she asked, looking over at a group that was waving in their direction. “Because they look like they know you.”

🏓 – our muses play ping pong

“Okay Hale, let’s see who is the best at this,” Nora announced to her colleague across the ping pong table as she served her first shot, bouncing it right off the net. “It might have been a better idea to play beer pong, actually.”

@alaskahale​

Alaska tried her best to hold back her laughter, but failed miserably as she sputtered into a full chuckle. “You think?” she teased. “Nah c’mon– I believe in you. Serve this one with feeling,” Al then encouraged the other with a smile. “We can get drunk afterwards.”

“Honestly I don’t really care what people think of me. I do my job well and I keep to myself for the most part. If you matter to me, I keep you around. That’s about as complicated as it gets with me so it’s pretty clear who I value and who I don’t.” He stated simply. If anything he felt like it was a good thing that there was no confusion there. “But why do people have to make it more complicated and want to know your life’s story? Who you are now should be all that matters.” He appeared to grumble more than anything.

“I don’t mind it too much because I enjoy your honesty and transparency. Fake people are the ones who just grind my gears. I’ve dealt enough with those,” Alaska admitted with a little roll of her eyes at the thought of people she’d encountered in her past. Or even what she used to be like. “I mean... it’s how people get to know one another. How we make friends, meet lovers– what’s so wrong with that?” Al asked with a light tilt of her head. “I mean sure, who you are now matters most. But if someone really cares they might ask to see how you got from one place to the other, how you grew as a human being– you know?”

“No, no,” Wesley retorted, “I think it’s perfectly normal to have a fear of them. After that scene in Harry Potter where Nagini bites the screen– well, I’ve never looked at one the same,” he nervously chuckled. “Oh God. Yep, that would be my worst nightmare, no exaggerations. I am so glad we invented those things.”

“Oh I mean that’s totally fair. That scene was pretty traumatic,” she replied in understanding with a little laugh of her own. “Don’t worry I won’t unleash him on you or anything– but he’s pretty freaky. If he could be properly trained I feel like he could be useful against villains.”

“You’re a liar. You don’t care what I think really. Not about that anyway.” Aaron said in response. He knew that Alaska was aware if he’d actually thought badly of her that he’d have told her by now. “And I’m a something magnet… yeah.” He agreed with a slight nod of his head. “I piss of just about everyone and normally that’s not an issue. Learning that I do it even when I don’t mean to these days.”

“Nah. You hate pretty much everyone so getting an opinion from you doesn’t count,” she teased, giving him a playful nudge. “Do you know why you piss off just about everyone? For starters it’s because you seem so pissed off all the time,” Alaska pointed out a little more seriously. “While first impressions shouldn’t be everything, they still make an impact. And well... you don’t give off the friendliest first impression.”

“There isn’t an answer that isn’t going to get me hit here so I am going to plead the fifth.” Aaron answered, following the woman into the building and shaking off a little. “Although staying silent also usually gets me in the shit too apparently.”

“That’s almost worried me more to be quite honest with you,” Alaska snorted softly. “Yeah I can see why that is. You’re just a little trouble magnet– aren’t you?”

“I don’t suppose you have any food on you that isn’t chocolate?” Hugo asked the person who he sensed passing by as he lay on the ground on his stomach trying to coerce the puppy out from the spot where it seemed to be stuck. “Apparently my abilities and baby talk aren’t doing the trick and I might have to resort to food tactics.”

“I mean I could try to use my own but it seems pretty terrified,” Alaska frowned slightly, looking at the frightened puppy. “Oh wait! I have a wrapped sandwich for later– I can pull the ham and cheese from it,” she suggested, moving to fish the snack from her bag.

Wes had heard of all sorts of human powers, but a snake? Now that was something new. “Oh, of course! I’m honestly dead scared of snakes, so as long as I’m not doing the animal handling part, we should be good,” he joked. “How did you find out about this guy?”

“Do I need to get you to hold him to get over your fear or something?” she asked as if she were scolding him but she was only messing around. “But sounds like we make quite the team. It works for me,” Alaska added with a smile. “We get weird calls into the centre all the time. I got sent to check it out and well– it was legit. He can not only turn invisible but he can also communicate telepathically. The invisible part is super alarming. While I’m not scared of snakes, having one sneak up on you without you knowing is a terrifying thought. So we had to put a power dampener on it for safety reasons.”

Charlotte followed Alaska’s pointing with her eyes, “Oh my god, it is! Do you see what I mean about the beard?” She spoke, “I think I need to take you to some hide and seek game or something.” 

“You say that like that’s the crazy part of you. If anything, that’s probably the most normal part.” He stated a moment later, shaking his head a little softly. “Get in before we get completely soaked.”

“What would you say is the craziest part of me then, hmm? Answer wisely,” she couldn’t help but tease him with a wiggle of her eyebrows. “Alright, alright,” Alaska nodded before heading in.

“If I could put up with them I would but I’m not sure who is worse.” Aaron answered, shaking his head, though there was a slight smirk on his face. “So unfortunately I’m stuck with you.”

“Poor ol’ Aaron, stuck with his crazy cousin that talks to animals,” Alaska teased, picking up on that sliver of a smirk rather proudly. When it came to Aaron, that was considered a success for her.

“No, I don’t. I’d really like you to explain yourself,” PJ said, smirking a little but it dropped after her next comment, “Familiar? I look familiar to you?” Did she remember? Sure, she probably remembered the actual event but did she remember that it was him. He shook his head once and shrugged, “Yeah I probably just have one of those faces,” He brushed it off and decided it was about time he changed the subject, “Alright, do I get to ask you a question now? Since you asked me one or is this a one way kinda deal?”